Swimming Lessons
by Cheshire Magic
Summary: Lysander Scamander, an unpopular almost-loner that lives in his brother's shadow. With an aggressive bully breathing down his neck, and his best friend unaware, bad things can happen. Like taking a dip in the Black Lake. In the winter. Naked. Oh, and Lysander can't swim...
1. Baby, It's So Freaking Cold Outside

His dirty blond hair was frizzy, his large blue eyes were bloodshot, and shoes were too tight. Not to mention it was starting to snow outside. What a lovely morning.

Lysander Scamander brushed his teeth and didn't bother with anything else. He had took his shower last night, to avoid waiting in line, and just settled for scrubbing his face.

He grabbed his backpack, checked to see all his books were there, and walked down the stairs leading to the Gryffindor Common Room. He'd never felt comfortable being a Gryffindor, his entire family were Ravenclaws, including his twin brother, Lorcan. Actaully when he thought about it, he didn't feel all that comfortable at Hogwarts period.

Lysander was sort of an outsider. He wasn't very smart, or very handsome, or funny, or fun. Lysander was just kind. The only thing he excelled at though was music. He was a master pianist, and had written his own compositions on multiple occasions. He could also play the violin and the bass, the guitar, the mandolin, and the clarinet. Those were his favorites.

He actually had a list of all the instruments he could play. It was his hobby, to learn and master everything about an instrument. The harder, the better.

But most people didn't know this and Hogwarts didn't offer any musical activities so no one here was ever going to know. Except for Lorcan, who had the pleasure of listening to him play whenever the were home for the holidays.

Lorcan was Lysander's exact opposite. He was smart, popular, and handsome; his hair was a dark brown, his skin tan, and his eyes a grayish green. Lorcan was funny, and was always surrounded by people.

But Lorcan couldn't play the triangle.

But he didn't have to, he had everything he needed. No one seemed to care if you could play the oboe. They wanted someone fun.

Lorcan was perfect. Lysander wasn't. Heck, he even got the stupid rhyming name. Lysander Scamander. How cute.

He plopped himself down at the Gryffindor Table. He always ate alone, his one best friend, Lucy Weasley, was a Slytherin. Once again Lysander didn't understand the Sorting Hat's decision. That old hat must be unweaving or something...

Across the Great Hall he saw his redheaded companion arguing with some fifth year. If there was an award for most aggressive third year she would win hands down.

He glanced out the window. Snow was coming down even faster. It was a Wednesday which meant he had Care of Magical Creatures. Joy. His father made him take it, the majority of his family were magizoologists. And who was he to end that line of success?

Lysander didn't mind the class, mostly. It was easier than his other ones. The thing he did not enjoy however was the weather.

He hated sitting in the snow watching Hagrid talk about some beast he'd managed to wrangle long enough to show it to the class.

James had told all the boys in his dorm (which included Lysander) that they were covering dugbogs today. A dangerous, ankle-devouring, creature that looks like a log. Whoopee.

He gathered his things and prepared himself for the cold outside.

* * *

**Okaaaaay. So this kind of a project I'm working on. I wanted to write a... series... yeah that's an okay word. I wanted to write a series of stories, but I just _could not_ do it with those developed characters, and i didn't want to use a character that people use in all their Next Gen stuff. So I chose Lysander. He looks like his mommy *SQUEAL***

**He's sorta my baby now.**


	2. Hungry Like the Dugbog

The wind hurt. Snow was stinging his cheeks and his socks were wet. Lysander was never a fan of cold weather, it always made him irritable.

"Hey! Wait up!" He turned to see Lucy running towards him. Her bright red hair tangling in the wind. She pulled her scarf tighter. "It's cold isn't it?"

"It's beyond cold. I hope Hagrid dismisses us early." Lucy rolled her eyes. I'm sure we'll get used to it halfway through the lesson. He snorted in dismissal. She sighed and nudged him, causing his left foot to bury itself in a snow bank.

"Thanks a lot." He said pulling his foot out.

"Oh whatever Mr. Grumps." She laughed as he then fell into another snow bank.

"Clumsy much Scamander?" A voice that portrayed a surprising amount of cockiness called out from behind him. Lysander didn't even have to turn around he knew who was behind him.

Aeon Vane. He seemed to find some sadistic pleasure in making Lysander's life unbearable. Of course he rarely would show his face when Lucy was around, a smart thing to do.

Lysander brushed the snow off his robes and turned to face the bully. Lucy was only vaguely aware of the relationship between the two Gryffindors. She knew that Aeon teased her friend, but what she didn't know was that Aeon tended to get violent.

The boy smirked, his long black hair swept into his face thanks to the wind. "Well, I have a class to get to." He walked past them towards Hagrid's Cabin.

"Coward. If I wasn't here he'd have told you off for falling..." Lucy muttered.

* * *

"This is booooring." Lucy whined. Lysander agreed with her. The dugbogs wouldn't come out of their warm little pens and Hagrid was trying to coax them out with preserved mandrakes, a dugbog favorite.

Everyone in the class had lost interest a few minutes ago and were now talking to their friends. Hagrid let out a pained yelp and jumped back from the creatures. His pinky finger was gone and blood was pouring down his arm.

Lucy leapt forward, tugging her scarf off to subdue the bleeding. Class was dismissed, and Lucy had one less scarf.

The rest of the day was like any other. Lysander was alone in divination, and had Lucy in all his other classes. Aeon and his friends would give Lysander glares and whisper snide comments to him.

The day finally ended and lucky for them, they had no new homework. Lysander was exhausted, the cold did that to him. He went up to the dorm before dinner, not feeling very hungry, and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

He was wet. Wet and very, very cold. He opened his eyes but he couldn't see anything. Panic started. Where was he? He couldn't move his legs and arms and he felt like he was moving.

The panic woke him up fast and he could hear voices. Familiar voices. "How far out?" one barked. Lysander knew it was Andrew Crece, one of Aeon's friends.

"Far enough for him to get drenched." Aeons voice said, by the sound of it he was right next to his ear.

"Let go of me!" Lysander cried, thrashing around. Whatever they planned on doing to him was not going to be pleasant.

"Look who's awake!" Aeon chuckled. Lysander felt himself getting set down. the snow bit through his clothes and numbed his skin. He wiggled impatiently. If they were going to beat him up they better hurry up it was way too cold out here.

Then his clothing was ripped off.

* * *

**Sorry it's so short and boring. My creativity is dry, but do not fear! I shall refresh it!**

**Anyways... Aeon is a jerk. Poor Lysander.**


	3. Lungs On Fire

The second he was plunged into the dark black water Lysander blacked out. The overwhelming cold on his bare skin was too much for any normal person to suffer through while conscious.

He woke up seconds later. His lungs burning, and feeling completely blind. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't feel anything, and his mind kept repeating the same command over and over. _Breath_.

So he took in a long, deep breath of-water. Coughing and sputtering, more and more water made itself into his mouth and up his nose.

_Breath. Breath. Breath, breath, breath!_

He needed air! He kicked and thrashed hoping to find the surface, a reprieve of this madness.

He felt himself sink lower. He looked down, or what he thought was down, even though he knew he wouldn't see anything.

But he did. Staring at him was a fish-like creature. With dull grey scales and a sallow face. It was a Scottish mermaid.

Terrified he paddled harder, the water acting like syrup to his exhausted muscles. Breath. Breath. Breath. He looked down again, the mermaid was pulling on his leg. Dragging him farther from the surface. He tried to wriggle away from her grasp but she held on tightly, talons piercing his skin. Not that he could feel it, his nerves were frozen. _Breath!_

Lysander's body gave one last thrash as he felt his lungs explode.

* * *

"Where is he?" Lucy screamed at the boy in front of her. Her face was bright red and her eyes shone dangerously. "What did you do to him?" Her chest was heaving, her entire body was shaking with rage, scaring the boy in front of her, a perk of having Weasley genes.

"I-I don't kn-know what you're t-talking about!" Aeon yelled, backing up against a wall. How the girl figured out he was the reason Lysander had been missing for two days, he didn't know.

"Yes you do Vane!" She stepped up and slapped him. He winced and his cheek turned a hot red. "Tell me where Lysander is before they tell his parents that he's missing!"

"Uh... o-okay. I-I saw. H-he went sw-swimming. A-and he starting d-d-drowning and I was s-scared..."

Lucy ran off. She wasn't stupid, she knew Lysander couldn't swim. She hadn't expected to learn anything from the boy, she didn't even think he was connected to the disappearance. But he lied straight to her face. He was covering something.

* * *

The pounding in his head was an angry, raw, sadistic agony. His chest felt like a boulder was sitting on it and his throat felt like it'd just been in some kind of knife fight.

Opening his eyes he looked around.

* * *

**Cruddy cliffhanger if I do say so myself. Anywaaaaaay. Lysander lives! Hurrah!**


	4. Only the Good Are Thrown Into Lakes

**So this chapter's full name is Only the Good Are Thrown Into Lakes in the Middle of Winter and Pronounced Dead**

**But that didn't quite fit in the Title Line/Space/Bar/Thingy**

* * *

Headmaster Morcott was pacing along the Black Lake. His young, handsome face creased with worry. A boy having disappeared in the middle of the night, no trace of why or how. Hagrid had searched the Forbidden Forest for tracks of the Scamander boy.

He hadn't found any, and now, this very morning, the morning he was going to inform the boy's parents and call the ministry, now a clue came into play.

A young girl had rushed into his office and informed him that Lysander Scamander had disappeared into the Black Lake. How convenient. Now he had to tell the boys parents that their son drowned, and from what the girl said, it was probably murder.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, a strong headache had made itself a home in his noggin. Just what he needed. The ministry would be sending people down to snoop and ask random students random questions about the boy's random death.

The headmaster looked across the lake. A pang of sorrow attacked him, a boy had died in his own school. What kind of headmaster was he?

* * *

Lucy refused to believe Lysander was dead. It was impossible, completely and utterly impossible. All the adults walked around "grieving", acting like they actually cared. The only teacher she'd seen acknowledge that Lysander was indeed in their classes was Longbottom, the others didn't deserve to mourn him. He wasn't even dead.

Teachers were so stupid. She picked up a rock and threw it as hard as she could, it made a large ripple in the lake. The lake that Vane had dumped Lysander into. In the middle of winter.

How stupid was he? Once she told the inspectors from the ministry that it was Aeon Vane and his goons that had attempted to kill her friend... His life story would not be a happy one. She smiled grimly to herself. Now if only Lysander was there to enjoy this moment with her...

But, no. Her friend wasn't here. He was gone. Gone somewhere... The way she looked at it there were only two possibilities. One; he managed to paddle his way to shore and was so cold and disoriented that he'd stumbled off somewhere. Probably into the forest. Or, option two; he was sitting at the bottom of the lake waiting for rescue. This one was so stupid she mentally scolded herself. No one could breath underwater, heck even if her friend had some superpower to breath down there, he wouldn't be able to stand the cold, or the pressure.

So Lysander must be in the forest. Hopefully not too hurt... A hand was suddenly on her shoulder.

She yelped and turned to face whoever was intruding on her thoughts.

It was Lorcan. Lucy had never been fond of him, he was always surrounded by people, people who laughed too loud about the stupidest things. He seemed immature and slightly cocky. Lysander's exact opposite. She looked into his misty green eyes. He looked... sad. Surprising her.

He turned away from her and looked out at the lake. Silently hoping his brother was going to emerge, dripping wet, covered in seaweed, and laughing at how silly everyone was acting.

But he didn't.

Lucy reconsidered Lorcan. Maybe he wasn't so bad if he was worried about his brother. He'd ditched his friends to come here alone. She sat down down on the rocky ground. He had the same aura as his brother, she found it comforting. Eventually he kneeled down beside her.

"I hope he's alright." Lucy almost beamed at him despite the circumstances. Someone other than herself thought Lysander was alive.

"He better be."

* * *

**...**

**I don't know why I the headmaster's POV in here... It kinda irritates me how we never find out who the head,aster really is after everything happens. Wikia says it's McGonagall, but only for awhile... Whatever.**

**And Lorcan is here! DUN DUN DUNNNN! I actually never planned for him to be in this story. But he begged me! Stupid puppy eyes...**


	5. Under the Black Lake

Lysander was kneeling in front of the merpeople's leader. His hands were in chains, at least he wasn't so cold now... Actually it was warm down here. And the darkness was replaced with light. He could breath and move and feel.

It wasn't too bad being an artificial merman. It had perks.

But he was also on trial for invading the merpeople's village. Or at least that's what he figured he was in trouble for, he didn't exactly speak Mermish. But he was being treated as a prisoner, along with the mermaid who'd dragged him down and did whatever it was she did to give him a tail and gills, and everything else a merman had.

He really hoped they didn't kill him, or the mermaid who'd saved his life.

He looked up at the merman who wore a crown made of some gray, ugly stone that matched his scales. He looked angry. He started yelling, it sounded almost melodic. Lysander closed his eyes and listened intently. Halfway through his rant another voice pitched in. Opening his eyes he saw it was the mermaid who was chained beside him. She looked furious and, maybe a little betrayed?

He really wished he could understand them. He continued to watch their actions and facial expressions. Assuming that they made the same expressions as humans... Lysander let his mind roam. What would happen if he survived this? Would people even care? Would he be interviewed? Dubbed a freakier loser than everyone at school already thought he was?

What would Aeon do? Lysander just shook his head and listened to the beautiful voices around him, resigned to whatever his fate would be.

* * *

Lucy _really_ needed to hit something, or someone. She had been humiliated! She had been seen as stupid! She had been made to look like a fool! They had covered heir tracks.

Vane and his fellow ruffians. They had made up some alibi and convinced a group of first years to go along with it! She was shaking in anger, waves of it radiated off her scaring everyone out of her path. She was already plotting Vane's death.

It involved a lot of bloodshed and begging. Maybe a little bit of deception, and some scare mixed in...

She finally made it to her destination, her dorm room. The silver and green pillows on her bed didn't stand a chance. Nor did the ones on any of the other girls' beds. It was a pillow massacre, one that pillows all over the globe would never forget-

Was she really thinking about pillows? She let out a little scream and pulled on her hair. Kicking her trunk clean across the room. It still wasn't enough she needed to fully destroy the room. She needed everything to just be gone. All the stupid colors of her house were infuriating! She wanted the gold and maroon to decorate her walls and bed! She needed to see red now! She needed to see suffering! Whipping out her wand she briefly considered her next action. She smiled, a wry laugh escaping her tensed jaw.

Then she set her dorm on fire.

* * *

Lysander was startled when the screaming stopped. His head snapped up and he froze. The mermaid had a knife embedded in her stomach. Blackish blue blood floating around her.

He turned to the leader, king perhaps, and watched as he came closer, a sword pointed at him.

* * *

**Stromsten: Does this count as a cliffhanger? XD **

**Anywaaaaaaay isn't Lucy such a troubled young lady? Poor thing, being sorted into Slytherin *shakes head* stupid old hat.**

**Hehe. Yeah.**


	6. I'm Dying and Know It

Under normal circumstances Lucy would have been expelled for arson, and put into St. Mungo's for attempted suicide, having not removed herself from the burning room. But these were not normal circumstances. Principal Morcott knew exactly what the girl was going through, he had been incredibly confused after all his older brothers died in the Battle of Hogwarts.

So he did not expel Lucy Weasley and he did not send her off to St. Mungo's. He had her burns healed and sent her on her way. Sometimes he really needed to grow a backbone...

* * *

Lucy was by the lake again. She spent all her free time there, sometimes even time that wasn't free. She had been avoiding potions class. She just couldn't go down into the dungeons, there were no windows and she felt like the walls were closing in on her. It was quite terrifying.

Lucy threw a large shiny green rock as far as she could. It made a big 'plunk' sound and fell into the depths of the water. Just like Lysander, she thought cynically.

Right now his mother was crying her eyes out in the Headmaster's office, and his father was probably staring at a wall. His brother was sitting across the lake from her. She saw him, he was throwing snow into the lake.

Lucy looked down at her hands, of all the people that could go missing, it had to be her best and only friend. Her sister, Molly, made all her friends in her first year and seemed to add on to the group every year. Lucy didn't even befriend Lysander until the end of second year... Molly had been sorted into Ravenclaw, just like their mother, and had been made a prefect.

She knew her parents despised how she was a Slytherin. They never let it show, but she knew. Being a Slytherin had dented their little family's reputation, a reputation her father was proud of and-

A yell. It took a moment but she realized Lorcan was calling to her. Lifting her head she gazed across the lake. Lorcan was jumping and pointing to something on the lake. Lucy pounced to her feet, a body was lying face down on the surface in the middle of the lake. She gasped, and undid her robe, leaving in just her dress shirt and pants.

Lysander.

She yanked her shoes off, snow soaking her socks. She had only gotten knee-deep when she was yanked out of the water. She kicked and screamed, yelling insults and profanity at whoever dared keep her from her best friend.

Then she looked up. Mr. Scamander was frowning down at her. Lucy was enraged. How could this man see his son in the lake and not want to help him? What kind of sick twisted man was this? She screamed these questions at him. Wriggling, trying to get away from him. He was a monster, a demon, a-

Lysander's body was being levitated from the lake. Turning slowly she saw Mrs. Scamander calmly pulling her son out. Oops. She stopped flailing and Mr. Scamander let her go.

Lysander was sitting on the shore now, his mother leaning over him. Lucy ran forward.

* * *

Lysander could not breath. His midsection hurt and his lungs burned, again. He was suffocating. He was getting plenty of air, that was the problem. He didn't need air he needed water. He flopped his tail, trying to inch his way back into the lake. He moved his arms, searching for something he could grab onto to pull his way to safety. His hands were covered in blood from the deep gash he was given from the merman, gross. He looked around, black spots making it hard to tell what his surroundings were. Lysander was able to glimpse a girl with ginger hair and dark blue eyes. A woman with dirty-blond hair crying and a man with shouting something to someone too far away for Lysander to care about. He started coughing, his body shaking.

Then he could breath. The blond woman had her wand out, somehow Lysander knew it was she who had saved him. Then his world went dark as exhaustion took over.

* * *

**Hurrah! Lysander is saved! But still a merman... I'm not sure how I'll fix that 0_0**


	7. I Won't Rat Him Out

At least she was right. To Lucy, being right was important, she absolutely despised being wrong. She also hated being judged, which made her a hypocrite because she judged people all the time.

Lucy didn't really care though. She didn't care what anyone thought of her, well except Lysander, and even then only slightly.

At least that's what she told herself. But putting that aside she didn't really care what any of the students or healers thought of her sobbing tears of happiness and sorrow for her best friend, gripping his hand so hard his fingers were going numb.

His dirty blond hair was messy, and his skin was somewhat sallow. His large blue eyes were closed. His tail and fin were gone, for now. He had to drink some potion every three hours to keep them from coming back. The healers said eventually they'll go away for good and he wouldn't have to drink that smelly stuff, but they didn't know how long that would take.

Lucy sighed. She would have to go back to school in an hour, just in time for dinner. For all she cared dinner could go screw itself. The last thing she wanted was to go back to school. Everyone in her house hated her more than they usually did. Burning down the third year girl's dorm room wasn't a good idea after all...

Oh well, what's done is done.

* * *

Lysander was released from St Mungo's after a four-day stay. He then stayed home for another three days, at the headmaster's insistence, and finally came back to school. He hadn't been allowed to stop taking his potion but instead of needing it constantly he could take it once a day, as long as he took it at the same time each day.

The one plus was that Aeon laid off teasing Lysander for an entire three months. Probably as a 'Thank you for not getting my pathetic arse expelled.' Which was true. Lysander hadn't told anyone who had thrown him in the lake. He said that he didn't wake up until he was thrown in the water.

He wasn't sure why he didn't tell the truth. He could have gotten his bully expelled and arrested for attempted murder. But that just felt... wrong. Like if he did then he would be just as low as Aeon, something he knew most people would scold him for, Aeon's arrest would be complete justice.

But he didn't die. Murder was not committed. Aeon regretted his actions. What more did Lysander need? He didn't want the arrest of about five underage wizards on his conscience.

Lysander sighed and picked up his violin. He really needed to stop thinking about all this.

* * *

**This is the end.**

**For now. I'm gonna right a sequel. Probably a prequel. And a sequel for the sequel. And a sequel for the sequel's sequel. Yeah, I'll prob right a series. XD**

**Anyways I changed a mistake in the last chappy I had written that Molly (II) was younger than Lucy! D:**

**Fail right? Well I fixed it now she'd two years older instead of younger.**


End file.
